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This article is courtesy of the Associated Press.
By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – Preliminary statistics suggest that the number of overdose deaths in the United States last year probably declined for the first time in almost three decades.
On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released interim figures showing that nearly 68,000 drug overdose deaths were reported last year. The number of investigations could increase as more investigations are completed, but the agency expects the final total to be less than 69,000.
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The number of overdose deaths has increased every year since 1990, reaching 70,000 in 2017.
Stabilizing or reducing the number of overdose deaths is good news, but the overdose mortality rate remains about seven times higher than it was a generation ago.
"We are still in a pretty sad situation that we need to address," said Rebecca Haffajee, a researcher at the University of Michigan.
This improvement is due to the decrease in the number of deaths due to heroin and prescription painkillers. These decreases were somewhat offset by continued increases in deaths from fentanyl, cocaine, and psychostimulants such as methamphetamines. Overdose deaths often involve more than one drug.
Authorities can take months to carry out toxicological tests and other elements of a death investigation involving drugs. And some states report faster than others. The CDC is expected to release more complete data later this year.
The current overdose epidemic has killed more people than any other in US history and it has taken a blistering course. From 2014 to 2017, the number of overdose deaths increased by 5,000 or more each year.
Experts trace the origins of the epidemic until 1995 and marketed the prescription pain reliever OxyContin. It was supposed to be safer and more effective than other prescription opioids, but some patients found themselves hooked and drug addicts discovered that they could crush the tablets and snort them or inject them to become high.
Gradually, more and more addicts have turned to illicit drugs such as heroin and fentanyl. In 2015, heroin began to cause more deaths than prescription painkillers or other drugs. In 2016, fentanyl and its close cousins became the main drug killer. By 2018, they were involved in about 46% of reported overdose deaths, according to preliminary data from the CDC.
Strategies to reduce the number of deaths from drug overdose included strengthening police services, developing treatment programs, implementing policies to limit the prescription of opioid badgesics, and the larger scale distribution of naloxone, an anti-overdose drug.
Haffajee and other researchers are trying to determine the most responsible measures for this slight improvement.
"It's complicated because there are a lot of policies going on and as an evaluator, it's very difficult to separate them and determine which ones work," she said.
Be that as it may, it is doubtful that they can quickly reduce the number of overdose deaths, she added.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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